


The Paternity Test

by nostalgia



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Adultery, Babyfic, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-12
Updated: 2011-11-12
Packaged: 2017-10-25 23:16:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/275937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nostalgia/pseuds/nostalgia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amy is pregnant, the Doctor is evasive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Paternity Test

“So what does Rory think of all this?” asks the Doctor when she's got him alone in the console room. “Has he started knitting little shoes for the baby?”

“I haven't told him yet.”

“You haven't? You'll have to at some point. He's a nurse, he'll realise what's happening when a baby pops out of you.”

 _In case it's not his_ , she thinks, but she says “Something might go wrong. I mean, we do live a pretty dangerous life.”

The Doctor rubs her arm and then draws her into a hug. Sometimes she thinks he's addicted to hugging people. She does like it, though, feeling him warm and firm against her. “Oh, Amy,” he says into her hair, “I'll keep you safe.”

Amy breaks from his embrace and takes a small step back. “You can't. How many times have I almost died? Rory _did_ die, and I know you didn't want that to happen.”

“But you're not dead, and neither is he. See? I'm good at keeping people safe.”

“Has anyone ever died while travelling with you?”

His eyes dim and he turns to play with the controls in a rather aimless fashion. That's a yes, then.

“Hardly anyone,” he says eventually. “Most people just... leave.”

“I won't leave you,” she says, and immediately realises that she can't promise that.

The Doctor looks at her with a half-smile. “I'm not keeping you around forever, Pond. The novelty will wear off eventually.”

“Mmm, you'll be wanting a younger woman at some point.”

“But while you're here,” he says, not answering her, “I think we should enjoy ourselves. How about a picnic?”

Amy's heart leaps as she remembers what happened on the last one. She wonders if she can face another picnic ever again. “Okay,” she says with a fixed smile. “As long as you don't make the sandwiches.”

 

 

The boys play football and Amy sits with River on the picnic blanket, watching.

“I had no idea the Doctor was so good at football. I thought he was just lying about that.”

“He's good at everything,” says River. “Annoying, isn't it?”

“He's not that good at food,” says Amy, poking at a cheese-and-banana sandwich.

“Aren't you having some wine?”

“It reminds me too much of last time,” says Amy, which isn't entirely a lie.

River puts a hand on hers. “That's years away,” she says. “And it's already happened. Don't let it ruin this for you.”

“How can you be so calm about him...” she glances over to check the others are still too far away to hear her, “about him dying like that?”

“Can we not talk about that? Please?” River produces a pair of sunglasses from her pocket and hides whatever she's feeling behind the opaque lenses. “Why don't you join the match? Rory could use the help.”

“I'm a bit tired.”

“Hmm,” says River. She takes another mouthful of wine and then says “So when's it due?”

Amy blinks. “What?”

“You're pregnant, aren't you? Have you told anyone yet?”

“I'm not... yes. I didn't think it was that obvious.”

“I'm just very observant,” says River. “Are you going to keep it?”

“Yeah. I'm just taking a while to get used to the whole thing.” Amy wipes a bit of banana off some cheese and assembles a more conventional sandwich. “Do you have any children?” she asks.

“Oh, no! Not something I'm interested in.”

“Sorry, I just wondered.”

“No need to apologise.” River turns her head to watch the one-a-side football match. “I did consider it when I was your age, but... well, then I met the Doctor.”

Amy reads between the lines and bites into her sandwich. It still tastes like bananas. “He'd be a good dad,” she tries.

River snorts. “If you didn't mind him popping out for a pint of milk and disappearing for three years, then yes, I suppose he would be.” She shakes her head. “No, the TARDIS isn't the right place for a child, and you can't take the Doctor out of the TARDIS.”

Amy takes the opportunity to dig for information. “Does he have any children?”

River looks at her through dark circles of glass. “I don't know if he'd want me to tell you that.”

“Just between us. I won't tell him you said anything.”

River takes a moment to answer. “He's not a father any more,” she says quietly.

“Oh.”

“He's done the family thing already. I don't think he could go through losing another one.”

Amy finishes her sandwich in silence.

 

She knocks on the Doctor's door that night. There's a pause and then she hears him say “Who is it?”

“It's me.” She tries the handle and finds that the door is locked. He never used to lock this door. Is this him trying to tell her something?

“Hang on,” he calls and Amy waits, hears mutters and a few thumps through the thick oak.

Finally the door opens slightly and the Doctor's there, without his jacket and pulling his braces onto his shoulders. “Is something wrong?” he asks.

Amy pays attention and sees that his hair is messed up and his lips are swollen. She blushes. “Umm, is River there with you?”

The Doctor glances into the room and then turns back to Amy. “What's the right answer?” he asks, frowning.

Amy raises her hands. “It's fine,” she says, “it's nothing urgent.”

And it's okay, it's not like this makes things any _more_ complicated. She's married, after all, and he's made it clear that he considers her off-limits now.

Rather belatedly, as it happens.

 

 _“This is not happening,” he says when Amy finally breaks away for air._

 _“Why isn't it happening?” she asks, nipping at his bottom lip._

 _“You're married,” he says, but his hands are on her hips and he's pulled her flush against him._

 _“What he doesn't know can't hurt him,” she says, tugging at his braces._

 _“It still isn't happening,” says the Doctor, too kind for his own good._

 _But then there she is, in bed with him above her, gripping the sheets and biting her lip to stop herself from screaming. They have to be quiet, so very, very quiet. All she hears is their breathing, and her own heart thumping in her ears, and the quiet moans the Doctor makes as he slides in and out of her._

 _She touches the back of his neck, digs her nails into his shoulders, feels the muscles moving under his skin. She starts calling his name, louder and louder until he kisses her to swallow the sounds of her second orgasm._

 _It'll never end, it'll last forever, she's going to die here with him still hard inside her. Then suddenly he shudders and she opens her eyes, determined to remember what he looks like when he comes. She feels a pulsing heat and he collapses slightly on top of her. Everything comes back – she's married, she can't stay here, they weren't even careful. Then he kisses her one last time and for a few moments she manages to forget._

 

She gets him alone again in the kitchen one morning, River gone and Rory sleeping off his latest brush with death. The Doctor's drinking tea and she has a bowl of cornflakes that she's pretty sure she'll see again soon enough.

“Has it occurred to you,” she asks, “that this baby could be yours?”

He shakes his head. “That's impossible.”

She hopes, she hopes... “Why is it impossible?”

“It just isn't.”

“Have you ever – and don't lie to me about this – have you ever got a human pregnant?”

He swallows a mouthful of tea and places the cup on the saucer with only the slightest shake to his hand. He's silent for long enough that she thinks he's not going to answer, and then he says “That's a very personal question.”

“I know you've had children.”

“You don't know anything about me,” he says, far too calmly.

“Why are you being so evasive? Can't you just _for once_ tell me what I want to know?” She wasn't going to cry, she's going to blame hormones for the water that mists her vision.

He reaches across the table and takes her hand between his. “Sometimes it's best to go with the simplest explanation. You love Rory, he loves you, you're young and you've got so much to look forward to. I'm just an old man with a broken spaceship who can't ever go home again. Don't let me ruin everything.”

Amy wipes her eyes with her other hand. “Can't you find out? Can't you... sonic me or something?”

“What if you get the wrong answer?”

“I don't even know what the wrong answer _is_!”

He releases her hand and stands up. “Ask me again when you've made your mind up.”

 

 

She doesn't ask. She tells Rory, lets everyone celebrate and doesn't even get too annoyed when the Doctor starts calling her 'Pregnant Pond.' They go to Blackpool for a holiday, and stands at the top of the tower with River while Rory fetches ice-cream and the Doctor looks for an alien invasion to liven things up.

“I don't get it,” she says, “it's like he doesn't care.”

“Of course he cares,” says River. “That's why he's doing it. He wants you to be happy.”

“And why he does he get to run my life for me?”

“Because he's the Doctor,” says River, simply.

“No wonder he loves you,” says Amy bitterly, “you're just like him.”

“Thank you.”

“That wasn't a compliment.”

“I know.”

Amy stares at the sea for a while. “You're not my parents,” she says, finally. “You don't get to decide everything for me.”

“Oh, Amy,” says River quietly, “you really don't know him at all.”

 

She lies in bed on the TARDIS, unable to sleep and listening to the sounds coming from the room next door. Thuds and creaks and groans, translating in her mind as “Fuck you, Amy Pond.”

 _You bastard_ , she thinks, _You clever, clever bastard._ He's making her hate him and it's starting to work. Whatever mutants her dreams conjure can't possibly relate to reality, and the Doctor's right, it's so unlikely that he's fathered her child. Impossible, maybe. What would she know, she's just a stupid human.

Rory stirs when she turns over and wraps herself around him, mutters something in his sleep about how much he loves her. He's the best of all possible choices, he's far too good for her and she's lucky to have him. For the first time she feels guilty about what she did with the Doctor.

 _Clever bastard_ , she thinks again, and closes her eyes.


End file.
